“…swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell, but will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” (Genesis 24:1-9 ESV)
The story of Isaac and Rebekah
This is the story of a man seeking a bride for his son after his beloved mother Sarah had died. The story begins when Isaac’s father Abraham instructs his trusted servant to find a wife for his son, not from the inhabitants of Canaan where they lived, but from his native land, from people he knew were living closer to his God. This was so important to Abraham that he had his servant swear on it.
Abraham had been promised major blessings by God if he led his children also to walk with God and serve Him. This blessing was to be for all his children for all future generations. Bottom line, Abraham must “command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD”. He must also position future generations to follow the Lord.
“Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” (Genesis 18: 18-19 ESV)
Abraham wants to make sure that he is arranging success for his son Isaac according to the promise of the Lord – and this includes future generations. We can see two important tactics that can lead to better futures for our children:
1. Protecting their Social Life That they are not allowed to mix socially with or marry those who do not follow the Lord – who have entirely the opposite interests and friends, and
2. Marry in the Lord The apostle Paul’s advice to marry “only in the Lord”— is counsel that should govern the conduct of all Christians (see 1 Cor. 7:39) and it not to be fluffed off when faced with social decisions. Parents are to govern the social connections of the children, especially regarding marriage.
The Bible teaches that Christian children need some guidance by their fathers to find a godly woman or man suitable to develop a future life with, where their children will also be taught to follow the Lord as fist priority. Future generations and their children will also be taught to follow the Lord as fist priority. Husbands and wives must collaborate to lead the family for Christ.
What if they children do not follow this counsel? Perhaps the children rebelled, or there was not Christian leadership agreement in their home when growing up. If they have married outside of the Lord, the hope now would be that both the husband and the wife (the children once married) both find and renew a relationship with the Lord and His Word. God’s love is patient and cannot be exhausted. “The Lord…is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9 NIV)
Abraham’s concern for God’s promise for Isaac and his children All children born into Christian homes have a higher purpose when they are born. The narrative moves to God allowing Sarah to become pregnant after being without child into her old age.
“Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him.” (Genesis 21:1-3 NIV)
Often, no explanation is given as to why God commands certain ways of living, but there is a principle that we reap what we sow. The seeds that we sow or allow to be sown into our children’s’ lives will eventually be harvested. In fact reaping is a farming law: we reap the same that we sow, more than we sow, later than we sow. If our children are exposed to others who drink unto drunkenness, share pornography (a pandemic among teenagers), have friends who commit adultery, or who disdain Christianity, it follows that this is the crop that you will see harvested in your own children’s lives. I can’t emphasize this biblical principle more: Whatever we sow we’ll reap, what we sow, more than we sow, later than we sow. We have the privilege to water and plant and God causes the increase (1 Cor 3:6-9). And if we don’t water and plant good seed, nothing good grows.
Abraham’s desire that Isaac inter-marry with a woman who was not native to Canaan where he lived appears to be a further expression of the notion of the two lines of blessing and curse seen in Genesis 9:25–27: “Cursed be Canaan!” but “Blessed be the LORD the God…” Truly the downside of not following Jesus Christ as Lord is the final curse of eternal death. The blessing is eternal life as Jesus promised: ““I am telling you the truth: those who hear my words and believe in him who sent me, have eternal life. They will not be judged, but have already passed from death unto life.” (John 5:24 GNT) The inhabitants of Canaan were considered to be under a divine curse for their sinful lives (see Genesis 15:16). The seed of Abraham was to be kept separate from the seed of Canaan.
The servant in search for Isaac’s bride The account of the servants success was accomplished because he achieved finding Rebekah as a wife for Isaac prayerfully by faith. The lesson here is that if our intent is to follow God’s will and marry in the faith of Jesus Christ God will lead the way until it is achieved to His glory. The servant of Abraham had success by faith and praised God for finding Rebekah for Isaac. “Before I finished praying in my heart, Rebekah came out…”
“When I came to the spring today, I said, ‘LORD, God of my master Abraham, if you will, please grant success to the journey on which I have come. See, I am standing beside this spring. If a young woman comes out to draw water and I say to her, “Please let me drink a little water from your jar,” and if she says to me, “Drink, and I’ll draw water for your camels too,” let her be the one the LORD has chosen for my master’s son.’ “Before I finished praying in my heart, Rebekah came out, with her jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’” (Genesis 24:42-45 ESV)
God understands everything to do with love and how it is only able to be nurtured in full in the context of loving God first. (see The Manifesto of God’s Love)